Annoying cat
After leaving the farmer's house, the two remained visibly silent.
After leaving the farmer's house, Xu Yi could no longer eat anything. She even developed a physiological aversion to meat and vomited incessantly.
There's no one else who can help with this kind of mental hurdle... Wu Zi could only stand by anxiously... there was absolutely nothing he could do.
Although Xu Yi isn't human and can live without food, delicious food brings more comfort... a comfort that sustains her to keep going...
Now this only hobby has become an untouchable taboo... which is a very cruel thing for Xu Yi.
Wu Zi felt sorry for her but couldn't help her. All he could do was try to find different fruits for Xu Yi to support her mental well-being...
That day, they arrived at a new village. Wu Zi was sitting on the street eating a bowl of vegetarian noodles, while Xu Yi stood alone outside the noodle stall, lost in thought… From Wu Zi's perspective, he could only see a lonely figure, and Wu Zi suddenly felt that even his delicious bowl of noodles had lost its color… He clicked his tongue twice, wondering when Xu Yi would ever get over this hurdle…
Then a little boy ran over, looked up at Xu Yi, and said, "Sister, can you help me find my kitten?"
"A kitten?" Xu Yi snapped out of her daze, squatted down, and asked the little boy, "What do kittens look like?"
"It's white, and this long..." The little boy gestured with his hand to indicate the length, then thought for a moment and said, "It's great for catching mice."
Does it have a name?
"Yes, yes, it's called Flower." The little boy was very happy: "Sister, would you like to help me find it? Thank you, sister."
Wu Zi sat in the noodle shop listening to the little boy's unremarkable description and sighed that all cats in the world look pretty much the same, so how could he find one?
Unexpectedly, Xu Yi asked a large cat lying in a nearby tree, "Do you know Hua Hua?"
The big cat was quite arrogant, giving Xu Yi a disdainful look without even meowing...
Xu Yi persisted: "Big cat, say something!"
Wu Zi could see the disgusted look on the big cat's face from a distance, and heard the cat meow angrily, as if it were cursing something extremely vulgar...
Xu Yi, who usually bursts to tears at the slightest loud voice, is now standing there like a puppet, completely unresponsive, lost in thought...
After a long while, Wu Zi saw the big cat staring at Xu Yi, and then it meowed softly twice as if in resignation...
Xu Yi initially thought the big cat wouldn't help her after hearing it say, "You're so ugly, don't talk to me." But after a while, the big cat relented: "Just this once..."
Then the big cat jumped down from the tree, signaling them to follow, and ran ahead.
Xu Yi quickly pulled the little boy along and followed, while Wu Zi also put down his chopsticks and left together.
When the big cat led them into an inconspicuous alley, they saw a tabby cat licking its fur in the corner of the alley. Xu Yi heard the big cat say to the tabby cat, "Go find a cat and name it Hua Hua."
The tabby cat tilted its head and glanced at the big cat, then meowed twice at the big cat and left.
As soon as the tabby cat left, the big cat took its place, rolling around on the ground with a leisurely attitude, and even said to Xu Yi, "Wait."
Xu Yi and the little boy plopped down opposite the big cat and waited quietly.
Seeing this, Wu Zi also jumped onto the low wall beside him, propped his head up, and planned to wait with him. He casually asked the little boy, "What kind of reward are you planning to give us for helping you find your cat?"
"I..." The little boy hadn't even thought about the reward, and after a long pause, he said, "I have a small wooden sword..."
"What's the use of a small wooden sword? I don't want it..." Before she could finish speaking, Wu Zi interrupted her.
"Then...can I buy you a candied hawthorn skewer later?"
The little boy's pained expression made Wu Zi laugh, and he readily agreed: "Okay, one skewer for her, one skewer for me, that's two skewers!"
The little boy made an "Ah..." sound, but didn't respond.
The large cat that had been lying down sat up and meowed anxiously at Wu Zi a few times. Wu Zi looked at Xu Yi, who relayed, "The large cat said there's still its string of bones left."
"Wow, even cats eat candied hawthorns?" Wu Zi exclaimed. The big cat was displeased, its fur stood on end, and it meowed shrilly at Wu Zi several times, as if it was about to pounce and scratch him at any moment...
Wu Zi quickly pressed his hand down on it, then said to the little boy, "That makes three strings."
"Huh?" the little boy exclaimed, his eyes darting around as he suggested, "How about you and the big sister share one skewer, and I'll share one with the big cat?"
The big cat meowed in approval and then lay back down on the ground.
Seeing that Xu Yi didn't object, Wu Zi agreed: "Alright, two skewers then."
After waiting for about half an hour, the tabby cat returned, meowed at the big cat a few times, and then lay down next to the big cat.
Wu Zi asked Xu Yi, "Xu Yi, have you found it?"
Xu Yi honestly relayed: "No, the tabby cat said it sent the cat to find the cat and told us to wait."
About half an hour later, cats came into the alley, and gradually more and more came. After more than ten cats had gathered in the alley, the big cat said to Xu Yi, "Let's see if you're here."
Xu Yi looked at the little boy: "These are all cats called Huahua. See if yours is among them?"
"They're all called Huahua?" the little boy asked in surprise, walking to the front and calling out, "Huahua?"
Most of the cats didn't react; some looked up briefly and then lay back down. The little boy shook his head dejectedly: "They're not here."
The big cat naturally heard this too, so it led Xu Yi and the others to another area. They found a tabby cat again and waited for almost an hour, but this time they still couldn't find the little boy's flower.
The big cat said to Xu Yi, "His cat is most likely dead. Should we still look for it?"
Xu Yi hesitated for a moment, then asked the little boy for his opinion: "It said your cat might be dead, do you... still want to look for it?"
"What?" Tears welled up in the little boy's eyes, but he finally nodded: "Find him, even if he's dead... find his body..."
The big cat naturally heard this too, and said to Xu Yi, "Let him take us to his house."
"Take us to see the area around your house."
"Okay." The little boy nodded and then led them back to his home.
As soon as the big cat arrived near the little boy's house, it dashed inside and ran to the backyard...
Xu Yi and her two companions rushed to the front of the little boy's house. The little boy quickly opened his own gate, ignoring his mother's calls, and led Xu Yi and the others to the backyard.
When they got to the backyard, they found the big cat meowing incessantly at an empty space in the backyard.
The little boy's mother also came over and greeted Xu Yi and Wu Zi, "What brings you two here?"
Wu Zi bowed to the little boy's mother, about to introduce himself, when he heard the little boy say to his mother, "They are the ones I invited to find Hua Hua."
His mother gave an awkward smile, then pulled the little boy back a few steps, scolding him, "What are you looking for? Didn't I tell you Huahua was gone? You still asked people to look for her? Are you out of your mind?"
Ignoring his mother's nagging, the little boy shook off her hand and walked back to the open space where the big cat was standing, asking Xu Yi, "What is the big cat saying?"
Xu Yi hesitated for a long time, but still told the little boy, "The big cat said that Hua Hua is in the soil."
"What?" The little boy burst into tears. He walked over, picked up a small hoe, and started digging. But after digging for a couple of minutes, his mother pulled him back and scolded, "What are you digging for? You've ruined this perfectly good land..." She then hit the little boy a few times.
The little boy cried even harder, asking his mother, "Why can't we dig? Did you know Huahua was here? Did you kill Huahua?"
Hearing this, Xu Yi's heart skipped a beat. She unconsciously clenched her fists, and her eyes flashed with a fierce light... Wu Zi quickly pulled her aside and whispered, "Don't be impulsive. Don't waste the senior's hard work."
Upon hearing the word "senior," Xu Yi's heart clenched again, and she felt physically uncomfortable and began to vomit, but nothing came out...
The mother and son didn't notice Xu Yi; they were just arguing. The little boy asked his mother, "Was it you? Why did you kill Huahua? Why?"
His mother slapped the little boy twice more before saying, "What are you saying? What are you saying? How could your mother kill Huahua?"
"Who is that? Who is that..." the little boy cried as he questioned.
Perhaps it was because the little boy was crying so hard that his mother's eyes also reddened: "It's not Mom, it's not me. You like flowers so much, how could Mom do this?"
"Who is that? Why won't you tell me?"
“It was…” his mother choked up, “It was the neighbor’s grandma. Isn’t Gouzi your good friend? I didn’t tell you because I was afraid it would interfere with your playing together.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Yi unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
Even the big cat noticed her unusual behavior. It rushed to her side and said definitively, "There's something wrong with you."
Wu Zi then tugged at Xu Yi and said, "Let's leave first and wait for him at the noodle stall."
The big cat meowed in response and took the lead, heading outside...
When they returned to the noodle stall from that morning, the big cat was lying by the huge tree. Wu Zi took a long bench from the stall and sat down with Xu Yi to wait.
Not long after, the little boy arrived. He was carrying two skewers of candied hawthorns. As promised, he gave one skewer to Xu Yi, and then gave half of the skewer to the big cat. The big cat picked up the half of the skewer and disappeared in a few moments.
While eating candied hawthorns, the little boy said to Xu Yi, "My mother told me everything. Because Hua Hua often went to the neighbor's to poop, she was disliked by Gouzi's grandma, so she poisoned Hua Hua to death. My parents saw Hua Hua's body by the courtyard wall and guessed it right away. They were afraid that it would affect my playing with Gouzi, so they secretly buried Hua Hua without telling me."
Xu Yi didn't know how to comfort the little boy, so she could only say the universally accepted phrase: "Don't be sad."
“Mother said…” the little boy’s eyes reddened again: “Hua Hua is dead…”
Yes, Hua Hua is dead; the senior is dead too...
"Do you hate Grandma Dog?" Xu Yi asked the little boy.
The little boy said, "Grandma Gouzi just thinks it's an annoying cat, and Huahua isn't Grandma Gouzi's Huahua..." After saying that, he took a big bite of the candied hawthorn and said to Xu Yi, "Thank you, big sister, thank you for helping me find Huahua, thank you." Then he left.
Xu Yi murmured, repeating the little boy's words: "Huahua isn't Grandma Gouzi's Huahua..."
Senior... he's not a senior to a mortal master...
I feel a little more cheerful now...
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